Aircraft landing gear typically include wheel and brake assemblies in which the torque applied to elements of the brake during braking is reacted against by one or more brake rod assemblies. This reaction prevents the brake assemblies from co-rotating with the wheel when the brake is engaged. The brake rods typically connect between a point on the brake assembly and an anchor point on the landing gear, such as the shock strut or bogie beam.
The brake rod assembly must be capable of withstanding the forces produced during braking. In addition, the mass and size of the assembly should preferably be minimized to achieve a correspondingly low mass and size for the overall aircraft. The connection between the brake rods and the anchor point can experience a large bending moment and is thus a potential point of failure. The connection point can also increase the lateral space envelope of the assembly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,394 describes adjacent wheel brake assemblies on an aircraft multi-wheel landing gear which are interconnected by a ring spring damped brake rod for torque compensation and to provide the added function of vibration damping.
Accordingly there is a need for an improved brake rod assembly for aircraft landing gear.